Art of simulating rare, precious, and other stones.



UNITED STATES PATENT onnion.

WILLIAM D. DENTON AND ROBERT W. DENTON, OF WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2, 1908.

Application filed February 26, 1906. Serial No. 303,112.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM D. DENTON and ROBERT W. DENTON, citizens of the United States, residing at Wellesley, in, the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Art of Simulating Rare, Precious, and other Stones, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in the fine arts andparticularly in the art of decorative work, and it has for its ob ject a utilization of regular geometrical sections of the wings of insects, particularly sections taken from the beautifully colored wings of the butterfly and moth, the coloring and texture of many of which when used in accordance with our invention blend themselves most effectively to work in decorative or fine arts.

We have discovered that by taking a section of the wing of a butterfly or moth of a definite, and preferably of a symmetrical, area, and mounting it in a suitable manner, for example, in a brooch, locket, or other ornamental setting, the identity of the wing, as such, is destroyed, and a highly ornamental and jewel-like effect is produced.

Our discovery lends itself particularly to the simulation of rare, precious or other stones, so that by practicing the invention as herein disclosed, jewelry, articles of personal adornment, toilet articles, bric-a-brac, ornaments, articles of vertu, and the like, may be produced, in which jewels, valuable minerals, and geological specimens, may be closely imitated, while at the same time the articles thus ornamented and enriched can be produced at a nominal cost so far as the simulated rare settings are concerned.

In practicing this improvement, advantage is taken of the fact that the wings of insects, of the butterfly and moth families, especially in some of the highly-colored and brilliant groups, is closely imitative in coloring and textural appearance of rare,precious and other stones or minerals. For example, the 0 al butterfly has an upper wing surface w ich possesses all the depth, iridescence, and shiftin colors of the opal. Another has the co oring of the agate, to which coloring the wing texture or make-up, with its fine traceries of veins and membranes, lends an effective imitative effect.

Again, some of the other types carry upon their wings well-defined and regularly formed spots, which, when dis layed under certain conditions made possib e by the practice of our invention, resembles the cats eye. Others have the blue of the lapis-lazuli, the gray of the pearl, and so on, through an almost endless line of resemblances.

It is obvious that the manner in which this novel art of ornamentation or embellishment may be practiced is widely varied, for the articles in which the decorative effects may be advantageously utilized are manifold. It will be observed, however, from the detailed description which follows hereinafter, that in whatever form or expression the im rovement in decorative art and jewel simu ation which we have invented may appear, its practice entails certain requirements to give attractive decorative efiects, and, where simulative results are desired, to secure the full value of imitative effects, and accurate simulation of the natural products which it is desired to reproduce.

. In order to effectively utilize the textural structure, iridescence, and .color properties of the butterfly wing in practicing our invention, it is indispensable that the identity of the wing, as such, be entirely eliminated or destroyed, so as to leave on the eye of the observer only the color and textural effect, to the end that the jewel-like appearance may predominate, to the exclusion of other impressions; and for the obvious reason that when simulation of stones is aimed at, any indication of the nature of the material used in practicing this art would detract from the realistic impression of solidity, depth, etc., necessary to successful imitation. This blotting out of the identity of the wing may, we have discovered, be very effectually brought about by taking a wing, or a section of a wing, which section may, if desired, be cut to a regular outline, and exposing an unbroken area or portion thereof through an aperture or sight opening, referably glazed, of such a pattern as would end itself to the decorative scheme if worked out with rare or recious stones, so as that the effect of a jewe or article of adornment having a regular setting of rare, precious or other stones is produced.

It will be obvious that the art may be as illustrating some of the methods of putting No. 889,845. PATENTED JUNE 2, 1908 W. D. & R. W. DBNTON.

ART OF SIMULATING RARE, PRECIOUS, AND OTHER STONES.

A PPLIOATIOH,PILED FEB. 26, 1906;

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pose through said sight opening anunbroken definite area of the Wing, destroy the identity of the wing as such, and give a jewel-like effect.

4. As a new article of manufacture, an imitation jewel simulating rare, precious, and other stones, comprising a mounting having a sight opening, and a section of an insects wing of regular geometrical form arranged in said mounting so as to expose an unbroken definite area of the wing through said sight opening, destroy the identity of the wing, as such, and give a jewel-like efiect.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing 15 witnesses.

WILLIAM D. DENTON. ROBERT W. DENTON.

Witnesses:

LA VERNE HoLMEs, HATTIE A. DENTON. 

